The Dilemma of Planning in Large-Scale Public Organizations: The Case of the United States Navy*

Planning enables organizations to coordinate their activities. Yet planning can have dysfunctional consequences, especially as organizations increase in size. If the requirements of the planning cycle exceed an organization's ability to respond in a timely fashion to its external environment, then the organization is forced to use alternative planning approaches. We first outline some alternatives developed in business and then illustrate how similar approaches have been used in the United States Navy. We conclude with recommendations for planning in other large-scale public organizations that need to compensate for size as they engage in organizational planning.